“You have to Volunteer to Sin.” – Preacher Clark – Good!

Pastor John,

Preacher Clark, in an old meeting, was telling what he just recently learned from a sister, who was also present:

“After God fills you with his Spirit, he gives you power and authority over Satan, and anytime after you receive the holy ghost that you sin – you have to volunteer to sin! That’s right. I couldn’t have believed that if God hadn’t come onto her and brought me the message. You say, ‘Well, I didn’t volunteer to do that!’ Well, He gave YOU authority [not to sin]. He doesn’t give Satan authority over you; he gives you authority over him! Somebody comes along and wants to hurt your feelings and …well, you’ve got to volunteer to get back under that spirit with them to even get your feelings hurt!

It means something to know that God has given you authority and power over Satan from the time you get started until you get the mind of Christ!”

Good!

Jerry

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Hearts Created by God

Good morning,

I had the sweetest thought yesterday. I thought that I don’t know one heart that has followed and follows God’s spirit, that would not want someone else to have it too. When God creates a right heart in man, a heart after Him, there is no division or selfishness. I went through every heart I know and thought how happy each would be for someone to seek to receive what Jesus has given to them. That is the difference between man’s heart and a heart God creates. One ought to examine the hearts that they are joined to, and seeing the hearts I am joined to bring a love for what Jesus has done for us. Seeing the hearts that God has created also says a lot about what He wants. I never thought about it like that before, but it really teaches us about our Father.

Beth

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When God Starts Spanking

Good morning,

I believe another good reason to stay very far away from this self-centered, perverse, all-about-me world, is that I do not want to get hit when God gets tired of the tantrum they are throwing and starts the spanking!

Best thing I have learned–none of us matter! When you really know that, everything going on out there is just pure self-centered, perverse junk! We have the answer, Pastor John! Eyes on Jesus! Jesus matters! That’s so good to me!

Beth

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God’s Peculiar Treasure from Pastor John

Greetings in the name of Jesus!

These are troubled times, but Jesus is keeping us safe and blessed. Keep your eyes on him! It’s ok to see things the way Jesus sees them, that is, to see things the way they really are, and to talk about those things. But remember to speak so as to edify the souls about you.

Ephesians 4
[29] No foul speech is to come out of your mouth, but only what is useful for edification, as the need may be, that it may minister grace to the hearers.

Philippians 4
[8]Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasant, whatever is well spoken of, if there is anything virtuous, or anything praiseworthy, dwell on these things.

Malachi 3
[16] Then those who feared the Lord spoke, each one to his neighbor, and the Lord gave ear and listened, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who feared The Lord and thought on his name.
[17] “And they shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day that I make up my peculiar treasure, and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.“

Let’s speak to one another of the many blessings with which God has surrounded us, and be God’s in the day He makes up His peculiar treasure!

Pastor John

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Paul’s Time Line

Pastor John,

We’re up to the New Testament part in your book, Suffering and the Saints, and Brad asked me when does the New Testament start. I answered correctly that commonly it’s thought to be the book of Matthew but that we know it really started when the holy Ghost was sent back and filled the disciples.

My question was what is the length of time between the disciples receiving the holy Ghost and Paul going forth to teach the Gentiles, as it feels like that is the real beginning of the New Testament.

And, Brad wants to know how many years transpired between Paul beginning his ministry and Peter preaching to Cornelius’ house?

Lots of love!!!

Allison

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Hi Allison!

Concerning your first question, it cannot be determined from the scriptures exactly how much time passed from there day of Pentecost until God sent Paul with his gospel for the Gentiles. It was obviously a matter of years, not months. According to Paul, after his conversion, he went away to Mount Sinai (“Arabia”) to meet with God, alone:

Galatians 1
15. But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased
16. to reveal His Son to me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood,
17. nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; rather, I went away into Arabia, and then returned again to Damascus.

It was there at Mount Sinai, I suppose, that Paul was caught up to the third heaven and received his incredible revelation of a new gospel:

2Corinthians 12
2. If in the body, I do not know, or if out of the body, I do not know; God knows. Such a man was caught up to the third heaven.
3. And I know such a man – whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know; God knows,
4. how that he was snatched up into Paradise and heard inexpressible things which are unlawful for a man to speak.

Paul’s gospel was indeed, as you say, a beginning, but it was not the beginning of the anew Testament. Paul’s gospel was the beginning of the full knowledge of God, the beginning of the eternal gospel, instead of the gospel for the Jews which Peter and the other apostles, which passed away when God finished dealing with the Jews as Jews.

The story of Paul’s conversion is told in Acts 9, and Peter’s preaching at Cornelius’ house is in Acts 10; however, that does not mean that Paul had begun preaching his new gospel before Peter was sent to that Gentile’s house. As you have seen, Paul spent a significant amount of time seeking God (and no doubt studying the scriptures and learning of Him) after his conversion. Moreover, if Peter had heard of Paul’s gospel before God sent Peter to preach at Cornelius’ house, then Peter and the Jewish brothers who were with him would not have been surprised when God poured out the holy Ghost on the Gentiles:

Acts 10
44. While Peter was still saying these things, the holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the Word.
45. And those of the circumcision who believed, as many as came with Peter, were astonished because the gift of the holy Spirit had also been poured out on the Gentiles!
46. They knew this because they heard them speaking in tongues and magnifying God.

I hope this helps. It was good to hear from you!

Pastor John

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Freedom

Hi Pastor John,

I watched that movie Newton’s Grace today and then read the Freedom tract. It made me think about what would happen if we were enslaved. It is not such a far-fetched idea anymore. I thought about all the guidelines, regulations, and the curfews in place now and I thought about who we are. We are still us, treating people right, loving Jesus, and being who God made us. I really do love us. They could chain us up, take away every earthly good, even keep us from each other and we could still be us. We could still have fellowship. Feels like we have already tasted a very small degree of that, and we are still happy and loving Jesus and still FREE. Sitting in the meeting room, wasn’t it (though I do pray to be there together again).

I loving seeing who we are. I love that I am in the We. Who would we be if He had them take it all away? We are seeing a glimpse now.

Who are Junior and Natalie, and Damien and Kay, when sickness comes? They are His. Testimony after testimony of Us being His.

I can hear Brother Earl testifying as I write this “If I live I am His, and if I die I am His.” I believe I value that testimony much more now.

I hesitated to write to you again, but it is so good to me! I keep thinking of Daniel being torn from his homeland and still being true to God the whole time, even when facing lions. Daniel belonged to God, regardless of where he was or his circumstances.

We have His spirit in us. We have more.

I am thankful to see who I am, how I feel, and how I spend my time without you all and without meetings.

Ps…But I really miss you all, too!

Beth

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Soil and Flowers Testimony

Hey, Pastor John!

I’ve been meaning to write out this testimony from last week! I think about it a lot and I’ve told various people and I just love how it feels. A couple of months ago now, we finally bought a large bunch of flowers to landscape the front of our house. I placed them how I wanted them, dug a hole, put them in the ground, watered them some (maybe once or twice a day), then watched them ALL die, less than a week later (I am not a gardener). A week after I planted them, we had Uncle Bob come over to till up the ground at our front corner for a nice little area for flowers and our boulder from Paul. Those flowers and grass have been there now for over and month and they are beautiful. Looking at them, I realized the difference…we hadn’t tilled up the soil in front of our house.

So two weeks ago, we took back the dead flowers, and I got all new ones. But this time, before I planted them, we tilled up the ground really well and deep, and added some cow manure and fertilizer mixed in. The ground was so soft and easy that it didn’t take much to make a hole and put the plant in. The afternoon that I finished planting them, that’s when we had the 3 1/2 days of solid rain. I was thankful for the rain to give my plants something to drink and live by! It’s been two weeks and they are doing just fine. The difference was the care we gave the soil!

Jesus let me see a parallel between that situation and real life! We have to do something! We have to do our part, then let God have it. That first lot of plants got full sun since the day they were planted, but the second lot (when done right) got days of rain to establish them. That was God. It was as if God was saying, “Ok, you’ve done your part, now it’s mine.” 🙂 We have to care for the soil that we are in. We have to pray, read our Bible, pay attention to what and who we are listening to, what we spend our time doing, what manners and attitudes we have with people, etc. All of that is fertilizer to our soil. We have to do something!

The best part, though, was that Jesus showed me that you can change the soil to make it better! I did it wrong the first time and didn’t care for it as I should (maybe a bit lazy), but we got a second chance to do it right, and it turned out perfect. nAfter those days and days of rain, some may say that too much rain might not be such a good thing… but it was in God’s hands anyway! That wasn’t my business. I did my part and the rest was up to Him. That takes the burden away of having to do it by yourself. God knows just what we need, and when we do things the right way to tend to our soil, He’s going to finish the rest. But you have to help keep it up as well, and watch for weeds and fertilize every once in a while. It’s not “once planted, always planted”. Good soil takes work.

I love being able to slow down in this crazy and hectic life to learn things from Jesus. How merciful he is for second chances!

Leah

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Ancient Holy Men and Speaking in Tongues

Pastor John,

Did Jewish prophets like Moses or other ministers speak in tongues when they were anointed by the Holy Spirit before the birth of Jesus Christ?

Jacob,

Hamilton, Ontario.

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Hi Jacob.

Thank you for the question.

The Mormon sect, and perhaps others, teaches that righteous people were given the holy Spirit and spoke in tongues, etc., from the beginning of the world. But that is not true. The holy Spirit, which brought with it the experience of speaking in tongues, was not given to man until after Jesus was slain, ascended, and was gloried to sit at God’s right hand (John 7:39). Jesus had to come and die in order to purchase that blessing for us, and when he ascended to the Father and offered his own blood to Him for our sins, God accepted His Son’s sacrifice and poured out of His own bosom His eternal life, which we call the holy Spirit, upon Jesus’ followers who were waiting in Jerusalem for that “promise of the father”. 

Most of the confusion, Jacob, concerning the baptism of the Spirit springs from ignorance of when a person is born again. The disciples were born again on Pentecost morning, not before. If you concentrate on the issue of the new birth, you will find answers to many otherwise unresolvable questions. You can start here: https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_books.html?tname=afterjesusdied

Let us know what you learn, and feel free to send us any further questions or comments.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor John

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Slander Thoughts

I just have to keep reading the poem, “The Second Eve.” Wow.

I read it and read it again, and think of Satan slandering God to the angels in Heaven, the ones there with God! I thought of them here, now, and wondered if they too know not why they were offended. “No one ever knows”? Do they look on and see Satan working and slandering here on earth, or are they blinded? The thoughts the other day about Jesus being hidden in plain sight made me think of how God puts angels among us, hidden in plain sight, trying our hearts at times. To take in the fact that all of this is not something Satan was doing without God’s knowledge or even His hand, from Eve to Christianity…it leaves my spirit feeling after more, but it is like through a veil.

I keep thinking of Richards’s testimony of the root, and how it had to be exposed to the sun. The Light, The Son, The Truth, kills the root of all slander. Sin, Christianity, anything anti-Jesus. Jesus is the answer! God did that!

Just feeling my way through these thoughts to you.

“Saints undone and plundered of glory and of peace, empty, yet elated, knew not that life had ceased.”

Terrifying.

Psalm 51:

10. Create a clean heart for me, O God, and make within me a new, steadfast spirit!
11. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy Spirit from me

https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_thoughts.html?tname=tfm06-01

Jesus was slandered in Jill’s heart.

Beth

 

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